"All the affairs of men should be managed by individuals or voluntary associations, and . . . the State should be abolished." —Benjamin Tucker

"You must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." —James Madison

"Fat chance." —Sheldon Richman

Available Now! (click cover)

America's Counter-Revolution

The Constitution Revisited

From the back cover:

This book challenges the assumption that the Constitution was a landmark in the struggle for liberty. Instead, Sheldon Richman argues, it was the product of a counter-revolution, a setback for the radicalism represented by America’s break with the British empire. Drawing on careful, credible historical scholarship and contemporary political analysis, Richman suggests that this counter-revolution was the work of conservatives who sought a nation of “power, consequence, and grandeur.” America’s Counter-Revolution makes a persuasive case that the Constitution was a victory not for liberty but for the agendas and interests of a militaristic, aristocratic, privilege-seeking ruling class.

Sunday, July 16, 2006

During recent flights to and from Irvington-on-Hudson, N.Y., for FEE seminars, I spent the time well by listening to podcasts of Roderick Long's excellent Mises Institute seminar on the praxeological foundations of libertarian ethics, availble as audio and video files here. I highly recommend it. As Professor Long, one of my favorite contemporary philosophers, discussed the Aristotelian, and more generally, Greek, approach to ethics, it occurred to me that contrary to the frequent claim that we Americans live in a Christian culture, in fact we live in a Greek culture. I'd be willing to bet that if a random sample of people was asked to read a brief description of the Greek [revision: Aristotelian] approach to ethics (virtue conceived in terms of golden means and one's own flourishing and happiness, a notion that incorporates the intellectual, emotional, and physical aspects of life, along with a concern for the legitimate interests of others), most would endorse the approach as common sense. That description would lack any reference to meekness, self-sacrifice, or renunciation of this world. Of course, people don't hold this ethical orientation explicitly or apply it consistently, but it does seem to provide the tacit moral compass that guides most people's conduct in their day-to-day living.

All of which gives more meaning to the "A" pendant my wife, Cheryl, gave me as a gift last year. I take it to stand for Atheism, Anarchism, and Logic (A is A). But now I see that it stands, more generally, for Aristotle.

By the way, this is the best place for me to acknowledge that it was Cheryl who came up with the title "The Goal Is Freedom" for my Friday column at the FEE website. I had racked my brain trying to find an appropriate title using the letters T G I F, where F would stand for Freedom. When I asked her, she came up with the perfect title in about one second. Thanks, darling!

The Center for a Stateless Society

Recognize

I am a Palestinian.

HT: Roderick Long

Anticopyright

Unless otherwise noted, to the extent possible under law, Sheldon Richman has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to all original content on the Free Association blog, through the CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. This work is published from: United States.

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“Logic and ethics are fundamentally the same, they are no more than duty to oneself.”